Interview with Crashdïet’s frontman Gabriel Keyes

INTERVIEW WITH CRASHDÏET’S FRONTMAN GABRIEL KEYES
Date: September 12, 2019
Interviewer: Olivier

TODAY IS A GREAT DAY FOR CRASHDÏET CONSISTING OF GUITARIST MARTIN SWEET, BASSIST PETER LONDON, DRUMMER ERIC YOUNG AND NEW LEAD VOCALIST GABRIEL KEYES GIVEN THAT THE BAND’S FIFTH STUDIO ALBUM ‘RUST’ WAS JUST RELEASED VIA FRONTIERS MUSIC SRL. SLEAZE ROXX CAUGHT UP WITH THE SWEDISH ROCKERS’ NEW SINGER GABRIEL KEYES YESTERDAY TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE NEW RECORD. KEYES HAS ALREADY BEEN IN CRASHDÏET FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS WITH THE BAND’S OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WAS THE NEW LEAD VOCALIST DATING BACK TO DECEMBER 2017.

Sleaze Roxx: You must be excited! The new album is coming out. What are your thoughts?

Gabriel Keyes: Yeah, I’m so excited! I’ve been waiting for so long to release this bad boy.

Sleaze Roxx: How did you guys come out with the name for the album ‘Rust’?

Gabriel Keyes: You know, when we wrote the song “Rust” — me and Martin Sweet — we just figured out that that was the right name for the album.

Sleaze Roxx: Is there any significance behind that word?

Gabriel Keyes: Nah, we just had this post apocalyptic… We wanted this post apocalyptic touch of the new image and the new theme for the album. So ‘Rust’ is something that is related to post apocalyptic things in some ways. I don’t know. It was some kind of weird idea.

Crashdïet‘s “Rust” video:

CRASHDÏET – “RUST” (Official Music Video)

Subscribe here for more videos – http://radi.al/SubscribeFrontiers | From the album RUST. Get your copy NOW: http://radi.al/Rust – Scandinavian Fans: http:/…

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs] Alright! In terms of the writing of the album, how much did you get to contribute to that?

Gabriel Keyes: You know, we wrote it together — me and Martin [Sweet]. Everything beside “Stop Weirding Me Out” and “We Are The Legion” because “We Are The Legion”, we co-wrote with Eric Bazilian of The Hooters. Of course, this song “Stop Weirding Me Out”, we wrote together with Connie Bloom from Electric Boys, Eric Bazilian and Martin Sweet. The rest of the album beside “Into The Wild” was me and Martin together.

Crashdïet‘s “We Are The Legion” video:

CRASHDÏET – We are the legion – OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Directed by Jimmy Johansson / Super Lino Puro Productionshttp://www.crashdiet.orgTour Dates: http://www.crashdiet.org/tourMerch: http://www.dietrecords.orgBo…

Sleaze Roxx: What about the other two guys — Eric [Young] and Peter [London] — did they have a hand in the writing of the album?

Gabriel Keyes: Errrr. No.

Sleaze Roxx: Were you just responsible for the lyrics or the melodies and music as well?

Gabriel Keyes: The melodies and the lyrics. The music, Martin created all of this.

Sleaze Roxx: Now in terms of the writing process, how long did it take you guys to write the album?

Gabriel Keyes: It took about a year. We’ve been writing… You know, we’ve taken a long time. We wanted to do it on our own and not do things too fast just to make it our own. We’ve been writing since Day One so it’s been taking a lot of time.

Sleaze Roxx: With respect to the new songs, which ones are your favourites?

Gabriel Keyes: “Into The Wild” and “Filth & Flowers.”

Sleaze Roxx: Why is that?

Gabriel Keyes: I like the melodies and the chorus of “Into The Wild” and they have a chorus in “Filth & Flowers.”

Sleaze Roxx: One thing that I have noticed is that there seems to be a real push to promote you in Crashdïet. You guys released ‘The New Kid’ video in three parts.

Gabriel Keyes: Yeah [laughs].

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs] Who came up with that idea?

Gabriel Keyes: Martin. That was his idea.

Sleaze Roxx: It also seems that you are doing quite a bit of interviews so is it a conscious effort to put you up front to be the spokesperson for the band?

Gabriel Keyes: Nah! I like it. I like to talk, to do interviews. The [other] guys have been doing it for a long time so they are like, “You can do it Gabriel right?” “Like yeah!” “He’s the new kid so he can do it [laughs].”

Crashdïet‘s ‘The New Kid part 1 of 3’ video:

CRASHDÏET – The New Kid part 1 of 3 (Rust album teasers)

Part 1 of 3 in a mini-vlog series about Gabriel Keyes.Pre-order the upcoming studio album “RUST”, out 9/13: Diet Records (Scandinavia / Australia) : http://b…

Sleaze Roxx: I spoke to you back in December 2017 and  at that time, it was still pretty new. Now, you’ve had more than two years with these guys, do you still feel like you’re the new guy and how have you been able to break into the special bond that Peter, Eric and Martin would have together for so long?

Gabriel Keyes: I think that we all have a special bond. We always have fun you know. We always laugh, talk. We never stop laughing when touring or playing. It’s like a never ending comedy and jokes all the time. I think that we’re never serious you know. Even when we’re playing, we’re always trying to have fun together. I think that is the ingredient to good band chemistry. Of course, from Day One, everything felt pretty natural. We had the same humour. We joke about the same things. You know, everybody gets it so everything feels so natural.

Sleaze Roxx: Cool! How would you compare the new album to the older Crashdïet albums? Where would it fit in?

Gabriel Keyes: I think it’s heavier than the other Crashdïet albums. I think that the songwriting and lyrics are a little bit different in some songs. It’s more of a mature album I guess.

Sleaze Roxx: What subjects did you tackle with the lyrics?

Gabriel Keyes: Everything that has to do with the real life. Things that we are upset — not upset but I mean — that we don’t like about the world and about things that we can relate to. That’s most of the stuff. All the things that we go on in the world, that’s what we’re writing about.

Sleaze Roxx: Obviously, you’ve had the chance to play quite a few gigs with Crashdïet now. What has been your favourite gig so far?

Gabriel Keyes: Favorite? Hard Rock Hell two weeks ago. That summer was great. And also Sleaze Fest in Bochum [Germany].

Sleaze Roxx: Speaking of Hard Rock Hell, you had Olli Herman come up for one song. How did that come about and it looked like it was kind of spontaneous as he didn’t seem to remember the lyrics. He looked at the lyrics at the beginning. It seemed spontaneous.

Gabriel Keyes: I also looked at the lyrics. The song wasn’t in our set. We obviously knew that Reckless Love was going to be there. We didn’t know when they were staying or arriving. We posted something on Instagram. He said to me, “What if we did this?” And he’s like, “Nah.” So it was all fun and games.

Sleaze Roxx: The crowd reaction must have been wild when Olli came up.

Gabriel Keyes: Yeah, it was crazy man!

Crashdïet with Olli Herman performing “In The Raw” at HRH Sleaze III in Sheffield, UK on August 31, 2019:

CRASHDÏET & Olli Herman – In The Raw – HRH Sleaze Sheffield 2019

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Sleaze Roxx: Do any of the Crashdïet guys keep in touch with Simon — Simon Cruz — your predecessor?

Gabriel Keyes: I don’t think so you know. It’s not my [place].

Sleaze Roxx: Fair enough.

Gabriel Keyes: But I don’t think so. No. no.

Sleaze Roxx: One thing that was interesting was that maybe a couple of weeks ago, there was an article about Crashdïet I think that we posted on Sleaze Roxx — one of ‘The New Kid’ videos.

Gabriel Keyes: [Laughs]

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs] Then there was a really long exchange [on Sleaze Roxx’s Facebook page] between you and a gentlemen by the name of Jay Roxx from Brazil, who is actually the frontman for a band named Sixty-Nine Crash. in Brazil. You guys really went at it back and forth. He insulted your look. How do you deal with that? You always have these people comparing you to the previous vocalists and why did you respond as well?

Gabriel Keyes: It’s just fun to read people’s opinions you know. When I got into this band, I was like a normal guy. Before that, I was just rocking in Stockholm. For a couple of years, I had cut my hair. I had to get myself whole again. I am just trying to come back to my style, my stylistic side. I can understand that sometimes people pick on my style but it’s not that… I am not trying to change because the people say that. I am finding my own image, my own way of being so that doesn’t bother me at all you know. It’s just funny to listen to all these stupid comments sometimes.

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs]

Gabriel Keyes: Call me Justin Bieber. Call me Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. Whatever you know! I am just going to laugh about it.

Sleaze Roxx: But sometimes your comments get misinterpreted because one person actually called you “homophobic” as a result of a comment.

Gabriel Keyes: I know. I know. Sometimes, you may not be writing the best words for when you are answering people and I am far from homophobic. I have gay friends and I don’t care if you are black, white, straight, gay, transexual, whatever! As long as you treat me with respect, I like people and I respect most of the people that I meet as long as they respect me. I can understand that when you joke around on the internet, people can get a false idea.

Sleaze Roxx: You guys have a tour coming up in Europe. What are your other touring plans aside from that.

Gabriel Keyes: A tour with Skid Row in England in December.

Sleaze Roxx: That should be cool!

Gabriel Keyes: And then, we are going to play in Moscow [Russia] in December also so we have a lot of shows coming up. And next year, we are planning on playing at H.E.A.T [Festival in Germany]. We’ll be playing two gigs with H.E.A.T — one in Stockholm [Sweden] and one in Göteborg [Sweden]. It’s going to be fun! We are still planning for next year. There’s a lot of exciting stuff!

Sleaze Roxx: What about North America, is that in the plans?

Gabriel Keyes: It’s not actually in the plans but of course, we have it in our minds. It’s not something that we talk about right now because we need to find the right people to work with. I hope that we come in the near future but I don’t know. A lot of people want to play there. We just need to find the right way to do it. You know, we have a lot of fans that say, “Come and play there. Come and play there.” Of course, if the possibilities are there, we’d love to come. It’s just hard. There’s a lot of other things you know.

Crashdïet‘s “Idiots” video:

Crashdiet – “Idiots” (Official Music Video)

Subscribe here for more videos – http://radi.al/SubscribeFrontiers | From the album RUST. Get your copy NOW: http://radi.al/Rust – Scandinavian Fans: http:/…

Crashdïet‘s “Reptile” video:

CRASHDÏET – Reptile (Official Music Video)

Subscribe and get “Reptile” delivered as a wav or mp3: http://www.crashdiet.org/newsletterSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2R4vSXCApple Music: https://apple.co/2R2A…